The Venture Brothers

This past weekend, I sat down for a marathon viewing session of seasons 1 and 2 of The Venture Brothers on DVD. I love ATHF, Robot Chicken and Frisky Dingo, but this show is, hands down, the best thing on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. Heck, it's one of the best shows on TV.

The mythology of the show is too big to discuss here, but to put it in a nutshell, it perfectly walks the line between parody of and homage to the likes of Johnny Quest/James Bond/Marvel comics/pulp heroes and all sorts of other pop culture references. That's a long winded way of saying it is freakin' awesome. Check it out.

Season 3 starts June 1st, so put it in your Netflix queue now.

You know, they make all those cartoons down the road here in Atlanta...I used to have a bunch of Cartoon Network folks in and out of AGF...my wife actually does a lot of work for them, doing commercials and bumper material.

But I still don't get the whole Adult Swim thing. I hate crudely drawn cartoons with crude humour and an endless barrage of pop culture and lowbrow references. I watch and just kind of frown the whole time. But strangely, I find that Squidbillies show- the crudest of all of them- pretty funny, mainly because they make a lot of Georgia in-jokes (the "Sonny Lied" hat, for instance).

I do like The Boondocks too, though...I like that it has some teeth and a good bit of social satire. Needless to say, Uncle Ruckus is reason enough to watch the program.

Watching a syndicated episode of the Simpsons (i.e., the greatest TV show of all time at least for 5-6 full seasons)dated from 2006, I realized that the crude humour and vulgarity of shows like that Adult Swim stuff, Family Guy, and so on is likely one of the reasons why The Simpsons went so wrong- the writers have tried to compete with those programs and as a result lost that the show was actually very sweet, positive, and funny on an intellectual level, not a body fluid level. Apparently the more recent writers thought it was the pinnacle of hilarity to have Marge make sex comments. The episode I was watching had stupid boob and orgy jokes to appeal to the "doo doo is funny" crowd but then had a Thomas Pynchon gag. Go figure.

I've always been a major Jonny Quest fan. Even the comic book version by Comico was really great. So I was initially very wary of the Ventrue Brothers, because it sounded like a cheap ripoff. Probably a touch of sour grapes, because cable tv is not in my current budget. Anyway, some old friends picked up the season 1 set and got me to watch some episodes, including the one with Race Bannon. And I loved it. Great show. Shocking, funny and insightful, it deconstructs the '60s espionage and adventure shows with affection and a modern perspective.

Good Lord, I love that show. Venture Brothers and Frisky Dingo are just brilliantly written shows. I found myself missing many jokes because I was laughing so hard at the previous material. I'd have to go way back to Arrested Development to encounter that again. Plus, as a Zeppelin fan, I can appreciate Brock Sampson on a whole different level. (He's right - it's not just "jock-rock").
My worry: Adult Swim got vaulted into the stratosphere by picking up great shows that were dumped by an indifferent network (Family Guy and Futurama). I fear that they've not remembered the lesson and are making the same mistake with their own amazing shows. Their schedule is never consistent, and the marketing they give to their product is negligible. I came across Frisky Dingo by accident, late at night, and I didn't even know when Venture Brothers was coming back. These are great products - treat them as such, dammit!

the marketing they give to their product is negligible

Not in Atlanta! Big, obnoxious billboards everywhere! REALLY obnoxious billboards! I'm talking flourescent pink dinosaurs, gorillas, unicorns, meatballs, HUGE wicked looking eyes, 1950s dads...crazy stuff.

Michael Barnes wrote:

But I still don't get the whole Adult Swim thing. I hate crudely drawn cartoons with crude humour and an endless barrage of pop culture and lowbrow references. I watch and just kind of frown the whole time. But strangely, I find that Squidbillies show- the crudest of all of them- pretty funny, mainly because they make a lot of Georgia in-jokes (the "Sonny Lied" hat, for instance).

Mmmm...Squidbillies...forgot about that one. I love Early's hats and the bizarro lyrics to the opening song.

Venture brothers is different from the usual Adult Swim mold. The animation isn't crude like ATHF or Squidbillies. The pop culture nods are more classic than contemporary, so you don't get that 'straining to be hip' feeling. The lowbrow humor is there, but it is a very minor part of the show - nothing like Family Guy. The dialogue is sharp and funny and most of the humor comes from the characters' relationships and actions.

If you do decide to check it out, discount the 1st episode of the 1st season. Like most pilots, it doesn't hold a candle to what comes later.

Ha, Venture Bros. is awesome. I actually plan to rent it for my next game day...

Never heard of it.

Here's the obligitory Wiki entry:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venture_brothers

Never heard of it.

It's kind of like Bananas in Pajamas.

Michael Barnes wrote:

Never heard of it.

It's kind of like Bananas in Pajamas.

...meets the Wiggles.

I saw this at JB yesterday on special for $19 (season 1).
I thought to myself "Do I trust Benny Lava enough to buy this blind?"

I walked out empty handed.

Definitely one of my all-time favorite shows. The yard sale episode was the first one I saw and I was immediately hooked.

My only complaint is that the two guys who make the show are a little full of themselves and obnoxious, but that could realistically describe any of us on F:AT, so it's not a huge knock against them.

Mr Skeletor wrote:

I saw this at JB yesterday on special for $19 (season 1).
I thought to myself "Do I trust Benny Lava enough to buy this blind?"

I walked out empty handed.

Don't blame you a bit. You can check out clips and even a couple of full episodes here for free:

http://www.adultswim.com/video/index.html

Choose the Comedy Tab, then click on Venture Brothers on the left sidebar.

There's bound to be clips on YouTube as well.

To respond to the advertising thing--I know many of you don't live in big pure college markets but if you do Adult Swim ad penetration is huge. I've been to adult swim bar nights on campus (officially organized with prizes, schwag and shit). Adult Swim advertises really heavily in college media outlets in college markets--I live in Champaign-Urbana and they put out a lot of effort here. I guess they know something about their market and target heavily.